21/4/07 – Your recycling’s not rubbish, says Shadow Minister

BINMEN gave a VIP a demonstration of how recycling is collected in Covingham.

Council refuse workers showed Bill Wiggin, the Shadow Minister For Agriculture And Fisheries, how recycling lorries with compartments for sorting different kinds of rubbish were used at the kerbside.

The ward councillor, Glenn Smith, who arranged the visit yesterday, explained that the trucks had been such a success in Covingham over the past 18 months that they will soon be rolled out across the whole of the town.

“If the waste gets contaminated, like if there is a bit of glass in with the paper, then it all has to go to landfill,” he said.

“But with these vehicles it can be sorted kerbside.”

The Shadow Minister said he was impressed to hear that 32 per cent of Swindon’s waste is now being put back to good use.

Mr Wiggin said: “I think it is fantastic that Swindon Council is taking recycling very seriously and local people like that.

“When people take time to recycle they need to know their efforts are not being wasted.

“This way people can see that their rubbish is not just chucked back in together.